No. 17 Duke Starts Fast, Runs Past Towson for Fifth Win

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman attackman Case Matheis scored a career-high three goals and handed out two assists while sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Turri made a career-best 15 saves as 17th-ranked Duke earned its third consecutive victory with a 12-4 triumph over visiting Towson on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils had nine different goal scorers overall in the eight-goal victory.

“I'm really proud of these guys today,” said head coach John Danowski. “They played well and they played hard. This was a good game to grind out for us. Another game experience for the guys and at this point in the season that is what we need.”

The Blue Devils (5-4) never trailed in the contest after scoring the first four goals of the afternoon. Tallies by David Lawson, Bill Conners, Matheis and Henry Lobb pushed Duke to a 4-1 lead at halftime. The goals by Conners and Lobb were the first for the duo this season and marked the first time Duke has gotten multiple goals from long poles in 2013.

The Tigers (3-5) pulled within 4-2 early in the third quarter, but Duke used an 8-1 run to pull away with a goal by Matheis midway through the fourth period extending the advantage to 12-3. Duke posted three goals in two minutes, including a pair within seven seconds of each other, to start the fourth quarter.

Lawson contributed two goals while Jordan Wolf had one goal and two assists. At the faceoff X, Brendan Fowler secured 12 of 16 draws and chipped in eight ground balls along with one goal.

Duke held Towson to just four goals and to just 1 of 5 on man-up opportunities. The Blue Devils have held each of their past three opponents to eight or fewer goals after doing so just once in the previous six contests.

“Our defense is playing really well right now,” Danowski said. “We wanted to speed things up around the crease defensively and I thought we did that. We're not giving up a lot of good shots and a lot of them are contested or rushed. I'm just really happy and proud of the guys today.”

Towson received single goals from Cory Dobyns, Andrew Hodgson, Ben McCarty and Justin Mabus. Goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage was credited with 14 saves between the pipes.

Duke ran out to a 4-0 lead before sophomore Justin Mabus posted his first goal of the season off a feed from Thomas DeNapoli to break the ice for the Tigers and end a 27:05 scoring drought. Sophomore Cory Dobyns scored his 13th of the year to start the third quarter, but the Blue Devils closed out the game on a 7-2 run.

Sophomore Ben McCarty and junior Andrew Hodgson each tallied a goal for the Tigers during that run. Senior Andrew Wascavage had another stellar game in goal for the Tigers with 14 saves - his third-straight game with double-digit stops. Duke outshot Towson 43-36 and picked up 41 ground balls to the Tigers' 26. The Blue Devils also claimed the advantage in face-offs, winning 13 of 19.

Duke's David Lawson (11:43, 1Q), Bill Conners (0:15, 1Q), Case Matheis (8:16, 2Q), and Henry Lobb (7:36, 2Q) all scored to give the Blue Devils a 4-0 advantage in the first half before Mabus's goal at 2:55 in the second. With his assist, DeNapoli stretched his point streak to nine games. Dobyns fought through traffic to pick up a loose ball directly in front of goal and buried it, but Duke's Jake Tripucka, Matheis and Myles Jones each tallied a goal over the next 6:40. McCarty notched his third of the year with 2:31 remaining in the third.